Get Your Robin Out of Our Hood

New Hampshire is the Live Free of Die state. As a resident of MA living close enough to NH I may have from time to time gone there to shop since there is no sales tax. But in lovely Keene NH there is an uprising of libertarians taking the state motto to an extreme that defies rational thought.

A group of people from other states has moved there and has decided Keene residents are the victims of a "violent monopoly" and in "bondage" by the government. Keene has been under siege all right, but not by their local government but by a sub-group of these newbies calling themselves "Robin Hooders" and spouting the motto "Free Keene."

These bandits are going around feeding expired parking meters then leaving business cards on the cars that say "we saved you from the king's tariff." If that were all they were doing this might be a completely chuckle worthy story. It isn't all though, while they are feeding the meters they are also going after the two parking officers (both who are female) videotaping them and and asking them questions such as how they live with themselves.

Apparently there was a third officer but he quit. The third officer was a male, ex-soldier, who served 22 months in Iraq. He couldn't stand the harassment, decided it wasn't worth it and quit.

The city is powerless to do anything. They tried taking the group to court but the court ruled that what these guys were doing was protected free speech.

The leader of the Robin Hooders is a man who drives around in an old police car with plates from Wisconsin and hasn't paid his federal taxes in over 10 years.

The group is really missing the point here. At the time of the founding of this country those who were against and/or worried about an over reaching federal government were not against all forms of government. In fact one of the things they were most worried about was a federal government that would trample the rights of the states to govern themselves. All side of the argument acknowledged the need for some government, it was the size and scope that they disagreed on.

Last I checked parking enforcement officers were not a tool of the federal government. They are not even a tool of the state government, they work for their town or city. And it should be noted that the residents of Keene neither asked for nor want these people trying to free them.

Oh and the city is thinking of raising the cost of parking to $0.50 an hour.